Who's Got The Buttons? While perusing a few art-worthy sites this morning (anything to procrastinate a little & enjoy my warm Tazo tea!), I realized that the blogs that I found most interesting share a little, inspire a lot & teach me something new...so here goes....
peace, love , sweater blog looked fun & made me feel warm & fuzzy about earth-friendly parenting-which I am all in favor of.
On the inspiring subject, I love
Johanna Parker's work in progress photos she shares on her blog, In "A Frenzy to Finish" (August 2008), you can see the artist at work...something I love & appreciate! So, here is a peek at what is in the works here this week-directly from my kitchen table! One of these days I will share some images from my messy sewing workroom/studio (my daughter's friend commented that it looks like the mom's studio in "Yours, Mine and Ours"..you know Renee Russo's piles & piles of fabric-If
only my room were that tidy!)
OK..now the project part...these are treasure boxes I am making for a studio show at Garden Deva Sculpture Company. Though I am making pillows & fiber pieces, I love doing mixed media, too.
Garden Deva aka Lisa Regan, has been written up in various magazine including Southern Living. She is a very talented metal sculpture artist, recognized on a national level for her work...and she really know how to throw a party! Her 2-day Studio "Party" is local music, local food & lots of handmade art. If you are in the Tulsa area in early November, come by for fun & local flavor!
To make these tiny treasure boxes you need only buttons or beads, plain brown paper mache boxes (approx. 1 3/4" x 2 1/2") from your local craft store (they run about 99 cents & are sometimes on sale for 1/2 price!!), glue (I use E6000 after a little incident with Gorilla Glue that I won't mention!), acrylic paint, & embellishments for the top, if desired. I attached tiny embroidered birds, my new favorite three-dimensional art perched upon little wool or silk fiber-filled acorn "hats" retrieved from my back yard. I painted these with gold paint, & glued them into center. You could easily use bird beads or charms.
First, paint boxes, inside & out & let dry. Then glue buttons or beads on one side of box at a time &
let dry before turning box. Be careful when you attach buttons to back side of box that they don't restrict the opening of finished box. Glue a rectangle or four tiny dots of felt on bottom if you need to cover sticky part where price label was attached on paper mache box.
Fill with treasures of your choice. I think I will include the mini red velvet stuffed hearts that we made last Valentines Day! (see Feb. 2009 post).
Good Luck & Have Fun revisiting your button stashes!
-EE
Muslin doll shapes have always intrigued me. You know the craft store variety: made in China, I think. Well, I decided to start making my own, partly to have them when needed for my doll cupcakes (see ilovefiberart index page), but mostly to have new three dimensional objects to embroider & embellish!
